Useful Freeware Programs

I've been using some very useful freeware programs for a few years now. I felt like it would be a very good idea to share those programs since they work really well for me.

One of the programs I totally love is PhotoFiltre. It also comes with several Plugins that can be downloaded and are very useful.

I've used PhotoFiltre to make graphics and wallpapers. I've also used it to make skater emoticons because of the good selection of paintbrushes that PhotoFiltre offers. I've used Paint Shop Pro before to make the skater emoticons, but found that PhotoFiltre did a much better job.

Here are some examples of emoticons that I've made using PhotoFiltre. I can't add all of them, but this is one of the reasons I like PhotoFiltre.

VLC is the ONE media player to have on your computer. It will play ANYTHING!

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I agree, it's a fabulous, no-nonsense, non-resource-hogging program for video files. It's not my first choice for audio though, as I've found its features for playing multiple tracks is not as intuitive or powerful as the Windows media player.

My other fave free aps:

Calibre for ereading. Way better than any of the proprietary programs, and works for all formats.

Cool Timer -- I use this both as an alarm and as a stopwatch (to track the amount of time spent on a particular job).

Thanks, y'all. I also like the VLC Media Player and a friend of mine that uses Ashampoo really likes it. There's another free burning software that I've used, WinX DVD Author. I've used it to make DVDs out of some of my skating videos. It works pretty good.

Aussie Willy, I don't know of a free video editing program right off hand. I've always used Windows Movie Maker. I downloaded the K-Lite Codec pack (full) which allows me to work with various video formats on my older laptop that has the WindowsXP OS.

I also use WinX Free WMV to AVI converter I haven't tried Windows Movie Maker with my new laptop which has Windows 7 OS. I'll post here if I find any freeware video editing programs or maybe someone else knows of one.

Prancer, I think any online apps would be great to share. I use one all the time called PhotoFunia. I use it to make photo collages, calendars. It also has a photo editor and free templates.

Also, OpenOffice is what Alf and I use now that we have Macs and it doesn't come with Microsoft Office. But usually I use Google Docs for office programs anyway.

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You might want to try LibreOffice instead of Open Office, it was forked off Open Office when Oracle scared off rather a lot of the devs, and is probably the better maintained of the two, even if Apache acquired Open Office after Oracle threw it out.

I effing hate GIMP (it's no way near the quality and tool richness of Photoshop, more like a buggy version of PSP ), but VLC is gold.

Prancer, I think any online apps would be great to share. I use one all the time called PhotoFunia. I use it to make photo collages, calendars. It also has a photo editor and free templates.

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Most of mine are student oriented (I know--big surprise).

Diigo and Delicious are both bookmarking sites that allow you to save and organize URLs . Diigo also allows you to add sticky notes and highlights.

Soshiku and Track Class are sites that track homework assignments. Both have reminder services; Soshiku's is more comprehensive and has more options.

Sticky Screen--if you absolutely, positively must be nagged into doing something, make a note on Sticky Screen, set it as your homepage and make it the first thing you see every day until you are done with it. Also good for inspirational messages like GO TO CLASS and CALL YOUR MOTHER.

Rescue Time--if you've ever logged on and wondered where those two hours went, Rescue Time will tell you. This is primarily a business application, but it's also good for people who get lost online and don't get things done.

Remind Post--a nagging service for people in charge of projects that sends automatic reminders of due dates and notifies the team leader when things aren't getting done.

Several sites for drill and kill study--FlashCardStash, Quizlet, StudyBlue and StudyStack. I used Study Blue to memorize all kinds of stuff for Geography and found it really handy to have it on my phone for those times when I was waiting in lines and such.

Cozi-- a shared calendar service designed for families. You add everyone in your family to the site and everyone can add dates to the family calendar and items to the shopping list and so on. Everyone in your family gets a weekly calendar and can get text reminders for specific appointments. A lot of parents like this for their students who are away at school, as it kind of keeps them in the loop on things like schools breaks and such. I use it primarily for the shopping list--everyone adds things as we go and since we always have our phones, we always have a shopping list if we stop at the store on the way home. Once you have everyone trained, this works well.

ChoreBuster-- Enter everything you have to do into a log in tedious detail and the app will organize your time so you get things done. Some of my students could really use this app, but the whole "enter everything you have to do" part is a major stumbling block; the ones who have at least attempted it have learned a few things about organizing their time, however. This can also be set up for the family and will send nagging texts to your kids and spouse to remind them to get things done.

DuckDuckGo-- a search engine that works almost as well as Google but does not track your activities and information. If you are a little scared of how much Google knows about you or would like to see search results based on what you are looking for rather than what you have looked for before, switching to DuckDuckGo will give you a small measure of privacy

I and my family use a program called Dropbox. Stores files up on a server and then synchronizes them on any machine for which dropbox is installed. At home we use it on all the desktops and laptops. Daughter has it installed on laptop. In this way, she can "drop" off a file for me to read/edit and then I save it with another name in the dropbox folder we share. I also use it to share with organizations with which I volunteer. That way I am not trying to attach files that are just too darned large to send/receive. The more people you invite to use dropbox, the more space they give you. I was invited by a friend of mine and absolutely love it! You can find it at dropbox.com

You might want to try LibreOffice instead of Open Office, it was forked off Open Office when Oracle scared off rather a lot of the devs, and is probably the better maintained of the two, even if Apache acquired Open Office after Oracle threw it out.

I effing hate GIMP (it's no way near the quality and tool richness of Photoshop, more like a buggy version of PSP ), but VLC is gold.

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Thanks! I'll check it out!

Yeah, since I use Photoshop extensively, GIMP is like a foreign language to me, but I usually recommend it to people who don't have Photoshop.

I and my family use a program called Dropbox. Stores files up on a server and then synchronizes them on any machine for which dropbox is installed. At home we use it on all the desktops and laptops. Daughter has it installed on laptop. In this way, she can "drop" off a file for me to read/edit and then I save it with another name in the dropbox folder we share. I also use it to share with organizations with which I volunteer. That way I am not trying to attach files that are just too darned large to send/receive. The more people you invite to use dropbox, the more space they give you. I was invited by a friend of mine and absolutely love it! You can find it at dropbox.com

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Or Dropbox! Seriously, Dropbox has saved my ass multiple times already, because I can sync my Dropbox files to my iPhone and iPad. I'm also doing freelance design work and we share files/images through Dropbox. Unfortunately, it necessitated the buying of the 100GB package, but the work I'm doing has paid for it multiple times already.